Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of smoking on the efficacy of raloxifene treatment in postmenopausal osteoporosis.
Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, raloxifene HCl (60 mg/day) and 600 mg ionized calcium + 400 IU vitamin D/day treatment were given to 63 cases (nonsmoker group n = 39, smoker group n = 24), who were in the postmenopausal period and detected as having osteoporosis. At the end of the first year of the treatment, the bone mineral densities (BMDs; g/cm²) were measured at four regions, namely the femur neck, femur trochanter, total hip, and lumbar vertebrae between L1-4, and T-scores were determined. The changes in BMDs were compared between the two groups.
Results: Before starting the treatment, the mean ages (55.8 ± 3.3 vs. 53.0 ± 1.3 years), menopausal ages (49.3 ± 2.9 vs. 48.1 ± 2.1 years), postmenopausal periods (5.0 ± 1.3 vs. 7.0 ± 1.4 years), body mass indexes, and estradiol levels were found to be significantly not different between the two groups (p > 0.05). At the beginning of treatment, the BMD values were not different for all measured regions in both groups (p > 0.05). At the end of the first year of the treatment, statistically significant improvements in BMD values and T-scores were detected for all measured regions in the nonsmoker group (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in the BMD values from the initial values in the smoker group after treatment (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: The treatment efficacy of raloxifene in improving BMD values in postmenopausal osteoporosis is negatively influenced by smoking. J